As we went to take our places on the coach after our last night at Cannakale, Achmet came to welcome us with some excellent news. The authorities had declared the battlefield site open for visitors. The bushfire danger had passed.

Bushfire ravaged area—yet this did not deter smokers who ‘butted out’ in the road next door!

As we entered Anzac Cove, Ahmet recited Kemal Ataturk, the famous father of modern Turkiye. Ataturk’s eulogy to the ANZACs moved some to tears!

“Those heroes that shed their blood

And lost their lives.

You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.

Therefore, rest in peace.

There is no difference between the Johnnies

And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side

Here in this country of ours,

You, the mothers,

Who sent their sons from far away countries

Wipe away your tears,

Your sons are now lying in our bosom

And are in peace

After having lost their lives on this land they have

Become our sons as well”.

We were excited but moved by what Attaturk had said. Just as we were about to get onto the coach, I saw these swallows. That symbolised something for me. I knew that the Romans never killed swallows. Ms ChatGPT told me the following:

… in ancient Roman culture, swallows were considered sacred birds associated with the souls of the dead, particularly the souls of children…According to Roman superstition, swallows were believed to carry the souls of deceased children, which is why harming or killing them was seen as extremely unlucky. The idea of killing a swallow bringing bad luck stems from this reverence for the bird’s supposed role as a guide for innocent souls…

Chat GPT
We knew that many young kids lay buried there at ANZAC Cove—is that the message these descendants of the swallows were telling me?

Those ships carrying the ANZACs steamed in through this narrow part of the strait as we headed to Eceabat and the road to ANZAC Cove.

Our first stop was where the memorials were held.

Hundreds died on the first day—blue water turned red!
ANZACs dug their trenches on these hillsides, with the Turks above
This is what is looked like on 25th April 1915
The spot ANZACs landed—hard to imagine that many died the very first day
Quartermaster Scharness died on the first day
Beach Cemetery
Dedrie contemplating the aftermath of the ‘lunacy’ that led to the ultimate price paid by these ANZACs
Trooper Seager was just a kid

Dedrie standing under the ‘Lone Pine’—the names of 2200 Australians who died there inscribed in the memorial– after World War I, Sergeant Keith McDowell brought back a cone from the famous Lone Pine, from which four trees were later planted at war memorials in Victoria, Australia, in 1933-34.

The Battle of ‘Lone Pine’
Remnants of the trenches at Lone Pine

John Simson struck a chord with everyone.

John Simpson, in the photo below, is leading a donkey carrying a wounded soldier through Shrapnel Gully, Gallipoli, during the First World War. Nicknamed the ‘man with the donkey’, Simpson has become an iconic figure of the Gallipoli campaign and is perhaps the best-known Anzac.

John Simson
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